Satori, Part 1 of 4
by Trey Strains
Summary: In his job as a test pilot, Hal Jordan is attacked and injured by an unseen enemy. His friends Tom Kamalku and Carol Ferris must step up to help him.


GREEN LANTERN #1 SATORI, PART ONE OF FOUR PAGE ONE SPLASH: Hal Jordan is at the controls of an aircraft. Through the windshield it can be seen that the craft is pointed down toward an arid landscape with some dirt roads cut through it. 1. HAL: Trying to pull it up. Caption: It was a routine test flight of an experimental craft that would take tourists on low-orbit visits to the moon. But pilot Hal Jordan has heard an explosion, and now Ferris Aircraft's Moon Bus is plunging toward a large vacant tract that the company owns. PAGE TWO PANEL 1: Close on Hal's eyes. They're squinted. Silent panel. PANEL 2: The Moon Bus is nearing the ground. It looks like a long car of a passenger train, but with an air foil and swept-back wings. There's a hole in the fuselage, indicating that something has struck the aircraft. Silent panel. PANEL 3: The craft hits the ground at an almost vertical angle. Silent panel. PANEL 4: The craft has been reduced to rubble and is burning. Silent panel. PANEL 5: Carol Ferris is standing on a high observation deck and looking frantic. 1. CAROL: Hal! PANEL 6: Tom Kamalku is standing at the end of a runway. He's been watching through binoculars that he's now moved aside. He's wearing a jacket and an ID tag that says Tom Kamalku, Head of Technology. 2. TOM: No! PAGE THREE PANEL 1: Tom runs up and jumps onto the running board of a company firetruck that's heading to the crash site. Ferris Aircraft is written on the vehicle's front door. A loudspeaker on the side of a building in the background is blaring a message. 1. LOUDSPEAKER: Code Red. All emergency personnel, proceed immediately to a crash site in Sector 9. Code Red. PANEL 2: Tom is hanging on the side of the firetruck. In the background a company ambulance can be seen exiting from a building. 2. LOUDSPEAKER: Bryars Memorial Hospital has been notified. Code Red. Code Red. PANEL 3: Carol is running down a flight of interior steps with some other people. She's crying. 3. LOUDSPEAKER: Code Red. All emergency personnel proceed to a crash sire. Code Red. PANEL 4: Carol is coming outside through an emergency exit and hears some employees who are standing there and talking. 4. EMPLOYEE #1: It was Hal Jordan. He's got to be dead, the way that thing hit. 5. EMPLOYEE #2: It was only a matter of time, as reckless as he was. PANEL 5: The shattered Carol, followed by other employees, has walked past the two employees who were talking about Hal and is looking at the plume of smoke in the distance. One of the employees who was talking has spotted her and is pointing toward her, alerting the other employee to be quiet. Silent panel. PANEL 6: Carol has buried her face in her hands. Behind her, the two employees who have been talking look embarrassed. Silent panel. PAGE FOUR PANEL 1: The firetruck has reached the crash site, and Tom jumps off to run toward the rubble. Thick smoke is obscuring the scene. Silent panel. PANEL 2: A wall of flame surges toward Tom and the firefighters, driving them back. 1. FIREFIGHTER #1: It's too hot. PANEL 3: The firefighters have retreated a bit toward the truck. Tom is shielding his face against the heat. 2. FIREFIGHTER #2: Spray it from here. PANEL 4: Tom tries to moves toward the rubble. 3. FIREFIGHTER #3: Sir, stay back. PANEL 5: The heat drives Tom back again. 4. TOM: Uhhhhhhh... PANEL 6: Tom looks distraught as the firefighters turn two hoses toward the rubble. Silent panel. PAGE FIVE PANEL 1: Two ambulance attendants have rolled a gurney up beside Tom. One of them is pointing into the distance. 1. AMBULANCE ATTENDANT #1: There he is. PANEL 2: From the point of view of Tom and the ambulance attendants, Hal can be seen lying on his stomach on the ground, a considerable distance from most of the wreckage. Silent panel. PANEL 3: Tom and the ambulance attendants are running toward Hal. 2. AMBULANCE ATTENDANT #2: I can't believe how far he was thrown. 3. AMBULANCE ATTENDANT #1: I can. Did you hear how hard that thing hit the ground? PANEL 4: The two ambulance attendants are kneeling over Hal. One of them is taking his pules. Tom is standing nearby, and the ambulance is driving up. 4. AMBULANCE ATTENDANT #1: He's alive. I can't believe it. 5. AMBULANCE ATTENDANT #2: I can't even believe he's in one piece. PANEL 5: The attendants are rolling the gurney into the ambulance as Tom looks on glumly. Thick smoke is pouring into the scene. Silent panel. PANEL 6: The ambulance speeds away, leaving Tom alone. In the background, two Sonoma County firetrucks are now arriving. Silent panel. PAGE SIX PANEL 1: Tom is trudging back toward the main complex of buildings when he spots a shiny bluish object in a field of rubble nearby. The object is in the foreground. Silent panel. PANEL 2: Tom has walked over to the object and is kneeling beside it. 1. TOM (thinking) It's some kind of projectile. PANEL 3: Close on the projectile, which is now in Tom's hand. 2. TOM (thinking): With no visible damage. And made of a material I've never seen. I bet belonged to one of Hal's enemies. PANEL 4: Tom is placing the projectile in his jacket pocket. 3. TOM (thinking): I'd better keep this to myself. And take it back to the lab where I can study it. PANEL 5: Tom is walking back toward the main complex of buildings, talking on his cell phone. 4. TOM: Carol, this is Tom. He's still alive, but I don't know what kind of shape he's in. PANEL 6: The company ambulance is roaring past Tom. 5, TOM: I assume that he crashed it here to avoid hitting a populated area, and that his power ring acted automatically to save him. So that gives me hope. PAGE SEVEN PANEL 1: Tom has managed to open the projectile and examine its interior. It's lying on a lab table. 1. TOM (thinking): No damage at all to the outside, despite its presumably having struck the Moon Bus with tremendous force. Damage seems to limited to the guidance system and the propulsion system. PANEL 2: Close on Tom. 2. Tom: It seems to be reusable, able to return to the point of departure. And craziest all, it has a propulsion system that apparently runs on gravity waves. PANEL 3: In a hallway outside, a gray-haired Asian man of about 70, CODGE, is arguing with a security guard. 3. CODGE: I've passed two checkpoints, and now I've hit a third one? Who's inside that lab? The pope? 4. SECURITY GUARD: I'm sorry sir, but Mr. Kamalku left strict orders that no one was to be admitted unless he specifically approved it. Caption: At the entrance to Tom's lab. PANEL 4: Close on Codge's California driver's licence, which he's extending toward the security guard. 5. CODGE: I'm Mr. Kamalku, son. That guy in there is just Tom-Tom. That's what his mother and I nicknamed him because he was always beating drums on the bars of his crib with his rattle. PANEL 5: The security guard is dialing Tom's number on a landline as Codge stews. 6. SECURITY GUARD: All right, sir. I'm calling him now. 7. CODGE: Put me on the phone with him. I'll clip his wings. PANEL 6: Close on the harried security guard. 8. SECURITY GUARD: That won't be necessary, sir. Mr. Kamalku is a very reasonable man. 9. CODGE: Yes he is. And sometimes Tom-Tom is too. PAGE EIGHT PANEL 1: Tom is picking up his land line. 2. TOM: Hello? 3. SECURITY GUARD'S VOICE (coming from the phone): Sir, a Mr. Codge Kamalku is here to see you. PANEL 2: In the hallway, on the security guard and Codge. 4. TOM's VOICE (coming from the phone): Send him in. 5. CODGE (leaning toward the phone): When did you get elected pope, Tom? I didn't see any white smoke rise from your chimney. PANEL 3: Inside the lab, Tom has stood up as Codge is entering. 6. CODGE: Why are you keeping everybody out of here? Are you looking at videos of naked women? 7. TOM: No, Pop. Sorry if that disappoints you. PANEL 4: Codge is now standing close to Tom. 8. CODGE: How's that pilot who crashed the Moon Bus? 7. TOM: He's pretty banged up, but he's going to make it. He should be out of the hospital in a few days. PANEL 5: Favoring Codge. 8. CODGE: I saw old Carl Ferris talking about it on television. He said the guy admitted that it was pilot error. 9. TOM: Yes he did, but I'm not so sure that it was. I'm going to the hospital to talk to him tonight. PANEL 6: Another angle favoring Codge. 10: CODGE: I thought Carl Ferris was going to cry about the cost. I'm sure that old con man had that thing over-insured. I bet he'll make a big profit from all this. PAGE NINE PANEL 1: Codge and Tom are looking off-panel. 1. CODGE: What's that noise? 1. Tom: I don't know. PANEL 2: On Tom's desk. His briefcase is sliding across his desk, on its own. Silent panel. PANEL 3: Tom's briefcase is sliding across the floor of the lab. Codge and Tom are running after it. 3. CODGE: What have you got in that briefcase, Tom? PANEL 4: The briefcase has hit a wall and come to rest. Codge and Tom are approaching it. 4. TOM: It's just something I've been working on, Pop. PANEL 5: Tom is carrying the briefcase back toward his desk, and the stunned Codge is following him. 5. CODGE: I thought maybe you had packed some Mexican jumping beans for lunch. PANEL 6: Tom is placing the briefcase in a desk drawer as Codge looks on. 6. CODGE: What's the matter with Ferris Aircraft anyway? Why don't they use your talents to build a Moon Bus that won't crash instead of making you work on some nonsense like that? PAGE TEN PANEL 1: At the hospital, four investigators are surrounding Hal's bed. Hal's forehead is wrapped with bandages. 1. INVESTIGATOR #1: Did you notice any loud noises prior to the accident, Mr. Jordan? 2. HAL: No, I didn't. Really, all I know is what I've told you. PANEL 2: Hal's phone buzzes. 3: VOICE FROM THE PHONE: Mr. Jordan, there's a Mr. Kamalku here to see you. 4. HAL: Send him in, please. PANEL 3: Tom is coming into the room, carrying the briefcase. 5. HAL: Gentlemen, let me introduce Mr. Tom Kamalku, former boy wonder and current man wonder. The youngest person in state history to hold licenses as both a helicopter mechanic and a jet mechanic. Honors graduate with two master's degrees from Cal Tech, and now head of technology at Ferris Aircraft. PANEL 4: The investigators start toward the door. 6. INVESTIGATOR #1: Hello, sir. We're going to leave you alone with Mr. Jordan. 7. TOM: Don't let me chase you fellows away. PANEL 5: The investigators are filing through the doorway. 8. INVESTIGATOR #1: All right, Mr. Jordan. We'll be in touch. 9. HAL: Have a good day. PANEL 6: Hal and Tom are now alone, and Tom is standing near Hal's bed. 10. HAL: Thank you for rescuing me from those guys. 11. TOM: How do you feel? PAGE ELEVEN PANEL 1: Close on Hal. 1. HAL: Physically, not so hot. Psychologically, surprisingly well. Amazingly well. PANEL 2: Two-shot on Hal and Tom. 2. TOM: That wasn't pilot error, and you know it. 3. HAL: Yes, but I suspected that it was Green Lantern-related, and I didn't want to have to explain that. PANEL 3: Tom is reaching into his briefcase. 4. TOM: You suspected right. Look what I found at the crash site. PANEL 4: Hal is holding the projectile and pointing his ring hand toward it. His ring is now visible. 5. TOM: It's a guided missile, and it's not from this world. It shot you down. 6: HAL: Ring, analyze. PANEL 5: Close on Hal's ring and the projectile. 7. HAL'S RING: Impossible to analyze. This material was specifically designed to defy analysis by Green Lantern rings. PANEL 6: Two-shot on Hal and Tom. 8. TOM: Then I'll have to analyze it. Luckily I'm the only person who knows about this. Any idea who might have been shooting at you? 9. HAL: My enemies list is very long, Tom. PAGE TWELVE PANEL 1: Carol is driving a car into the parking lot of Bryars Memorial Hospital. Helen Jordan is sitting in the front seat. 1. HELEN: Did Uncle Hal get burned at all? 2. CAROL: No he didn't. He was thrown far away from the fire. PANEL 2: Close on Helen. 3. HELEN: Well then, how can he be alive? 4. CAROL: I guess he was pretty lucky, Helen. PANEL 3: Carol and Helen are coming through the doorway of Hal's hospital room. Tom is gone now. Helen is running out in front of Carol. 5. HELEN: Uncle Hal! 6. HAL: Hello, sweetheart! PANEL 4: Helen is standing against Hal's bed, and he has an arm around her. 7. HELEN: I saw the Moon Bus crash on television. I was scared. I thought you were dead. 8. HAL: No, I'm not a bit dead. PANEL 5: Carol is leaning down from the other side of Hal's bed and kissing his cheek. 9. HELEN: Well, why not? PANEL 6: Close on Hal, who is very amused. 10. HAL: Because I remembered that you're going to bake a cake Saturday. I didn't want to miss that. PAGE THIRTEEN PANEL 1: Three-shot on Hal, Carol and Helen. Helen is grinning. 1. HAL: Hello, Carol. Hey Helen, what's that in your pocket? 2. HELEN: I don't know. PANEL 2: Concentrate on Helen's pocket, which she's reaching into. 3. HELEN: I don't feel anything. PANEL 3: A flash of green light bursts from Helen's pocket, startling her. 4. HELEN: Hey! 5. HAL: Ha, ha! PANEL 4: Helen and Hal look delighted, and Carol looks startled. 6. HELEN: How did you do that? 7. HAL: If I told you, it wouldn't be magic any more. PANEL 5: Favoring Helen and Hal. 8. HELEN: Uncle Hal, why are you being fun now? Is it because you got hurt? 9. HAL: No, it's not because I hit the ground. It was the falling that did it. PANEL 6: Favoring Carol. Hal and Helen are looking at each other and smiling, and Carol looks surprised and engrossed. Silent panel. PAGE FOURTEEN PANEL 1: Favoring Hal. 1. CAROL: Hi, Hal. 2. HAL: It's good to see you. PANEL 2: Favoring Carol. 3. CAROL: Did you and Tom have a chance to talk? 4. HAL: Yes we did. We had a very interesting talk. PANEL 3: Favoring Hal. 5. CAROL: Well... How do you feel? PANEL 4: Another angle favoring Hal. 6. HAL: Yesterday was just another day at the office at Ferris Aircraft. But really, I feel good somehow because... I don't know how to explain it... PANEL 5: Close on Hal 7. HAL: Because I don't want anything any more. That's the only way I can describe it. PANEL 6. Favoring Carol, who looks perplexed. Hal and Helen are looking at each other and smiling. HAL: Except maybe some of that cake on Saturday. PAGE FIFTEEN PANEL 1: Tom is walking toward his car in the Ferris Aircraft parking lot, carrying his briefcase. 1. TOM (thinking): This thing wants to go back where it came from. I'm not letting it out of my sight. PANEL 2: Tom is driving down a tree-lined road that leads away from the company's main entrance. Among the darkened branches of one tree, a human-sized yellow eye is looking down at him. It has a vertical pupil. Silent panel. PANEL 3: Inside Tom's car. 2. TOM (thinking): I hope Hal will be all right. Anyway they've lost the advantage of surprise they had over him. PANEL 4: A view down on Tom's car from a considerable height. 3. TOM (inside the car, thinking): Maybe I can figure out where this thing came from, and then Hal can go after them. PANEL 5: Tom is driving up the driveway toward a house. The word FERRIS is posted over the front door. Silent panel. PANEL 6: Tom has gotten out of the car and is walking toward the front door, carrying his briefcase. Behind him, the shadow of a vast bird's wing is passing over his car, cast from above by something unseen. PAGE SIXTEEN PANEL 1: Carol has opened the front door and is facing Tom. 1. CAROL: Hi, Tom. Thank you for coming. PANEL 2: Tom and Carol are crossing the living room. 2. CAROL: I was surprised by how well Hal looked. 3. TOM: So was I. PANEL 3: Close on Carol. 4. CAROL: I've never been so upset in my life. PANEL 4: Favoring Tom 5. TOM: He's a pretty hard guy to kill. 6. CAROL: Dad's in the next room. He's on the phone talking to a reporter. PANEL 5: Carol and Tom are standing in a doorway looking at Carl as he talks on a cell phone. 7. CARL: We're confident that no civilians were ever in any danger. But our pilot acted heroically to crash the Moon Bus in a vacant tract of company land anyway. He's a true hero. PANEL 6: Close on Carl. 8. CARL: And the Moon Bus project is going forward. The first 27 flights are sold out, and we're going to get every one of those people to the moon and back in complete safety. PAGE SEVENTEEN PANEL 1: Tom and Carol are moving through a different room of the house. 1, CAROL: I'll be glad when this fades out of the news. 2. TOM: It looks like your dad is enjoying that part of it. PANEL 2: Close on Carol. 3. CAROL: He loves to talk and he loves to put on a show and sell people on things. PANEL 3: Tom is drinking coffee from a foam cup and Carol is dilling herself a cup from a dispenser. 4. CAROL: That's a big part of being a promoter. That's what he really is, you know. A promoter. PANEL 4: Carol is taking a drink of coffee. 5. TOM: Well, the world needs people like that. They're very often the people who make things happen. PANEL 5: Favoring Carol. 6. CAROL: That's true. Just don't take what they say too seriously. Or shower too much money on them. PANEL 6: Favoring Tom, who is very amused. 5. Carol: Let's step outside. PAGE EIGHTEEN PANEL 1: Tom and Carol have come outside and are talking on Carol's patio. 1. CAROL: What makes it even worse is that Hal and I had a fight the day before, and I told him it was all over between us. I feel so bad. PANEL 2: Favoring Tom. 2. TOM: You'd feel just as bad if this had happened five years from now. PANEL 3: Favoring Carol. 3. CAROL: Yes, but he's different now. You saw that. PANEL 4: Two shot on Tom and Carol. 4. TOM: I think it might actually be an improvement. 5. CAROL: I agree. But that doesn't make this any easier. PANEL 5: Closeup on Tom. 6 TOM:: Carol, I found something in the wreckage. I've got it here in my briefcase. It's from another word. It's a projectile that must have shot down the Moon Bus. PANEL 6: Two-shot on Tom and Carol. 7. CAROL: Oh no. How are we going to explain that? 8. TOM: The fuselage was sufficiently shattered that they probably won't be able to detect the impact. I think they're going to be more puzzled about how Hal survived. PAGE NINETEEN PANEL 1: Carl comes out of the house's back door, cutting off the conversation between Tom and Carol. 1. CARL: Hello, folks. 2. CAROL: Dad. 3. TOM: Hello, Carl. PANEL 2: Carl has reached them. 3. CARL: It's hard for me to believe that Hal could have made a blunder like that. But if he did, you know I can't keep him. PANEL 3: Favoring Carol. 4. CARL: Carol, I know how you feel about him but we're talking about billions of dollars here. 5. TOM: It might not be quite as simple as that. Panel 4: Favoring Carl. 6. CARL: I hope it's not. But I'd stake my reputation on the performance of that vehicle. And I wouldn't feel any better if it were vehicle failure rather than pilot failure, because that would be even more costly to me. PANEL 5: It's a view looking down on them from about 20 feet. 7. TOM: I'm doing everything I can to get to the bottom of it. PANEL 6: It's now a view from about 10 feet above them. There's a huge bluish bird's wing in the foreground, and Tom is looking up toward it, startled. 8. CAROL: What's the wooshing sound? Do you hear that? PAGE TWENTY SPLASH: Five alien beings are flying down to the patio and are surrounding Tom, Carol and Carl. Two have now lighted and the other three are about to. They're human-sized, birdlike and formidable looking, resembling the reconstructions of the extinct Haast's eagle, except that they have four wings, with feathers extending from both their arms and legs, like the earliest species of Archaeopteryx. They have clawed and scaly hands and feet that extend from their wings, and their heads resemble that of the fearsome harpy eagle. NOTE TO THE COLORIST: Their feathers are bluish. CAPTION: To be continued. Silent panel. 


End file.
